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tv   The Situation Room  CNN  December 8, 2012 3:00pm-4:00pm PST

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good luck to all of them. and congratulations. i want to tell you, thank you for all of your tweets. i had no idea that this would cause so much tension. it's just a bow tie, everyone. i'm don lemon. see you back here. "the situation room" begins with wolf blitzer in just a moment. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> the two men who have the power to avoid the fiscal cliff get nowhere. growing chaos and danger throughout the middle east. the former british prime minister, tony blair, he's here. is the peace process due? and why the aspirin you take to protect yourheart heart may not doing its job.
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i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." we begin with the looming tax hikes. all of us are facing a little over three weeks. those increases coupled with spending cuts in vital programs including defense, health care and housing assistance are being called the fiscal cliff. the only way to i void it is for president obama and congress to make a deal, cutting spending and raising revenue. adding to the sense of urgency. news that 350,000 people simply gave up looking for work in the month of november. and while that drove the unemployment rate down to 7.7%, the fiscal cuts and tax hikes are expected to dramatically
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slow job creation and increase unemployment possibly plunging the economy back into a recession. let's go to dana joining us from capitol hill. the latest negotiations don't seem to be going anywhere. >> they sure don't. the house speaker ended the week by calling it a wasted week. he only had one phone call with the president of the united states and he said it was just, "more of the same." now counter offer to what the republicans put out during the week which was $800 billion in new tax revenue. so there's certainly a lot of frustration. particularly right now on the side of republicans who understand that democrats have the leverage right now. but on friday, the speaker did do something that seemed to indicate a little bit of day light. and that is he declined to put a line in the sand on that big issue that divides the two parties, which is raising tax rates for the wealthiest americans. he was asked a number of times
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whether he's still sticking to that. he didn't say yes. instead, here's what he said. >> there are a lot of things that are possible to put the revenue the president seeks on the table. but none of it is going to be possible. the president insists on his position. insists on my way or the highway. >> now, with regard to that major sticking point, the tax rates for the wealthy, two potential compromises that we're hearing about. one is possible, instead of raising it from where it is right now, 35% back up to the pre-bush era, clinton era, maybe do it someplace in between. have a little give there. another potential compromise that we're actually hearing from some republicans, moderate republica republicans, is to have a carve out for what republicans are worried most about. that is the effect of small businesses of raising those tax rates for the wealthiest americans. that is a little bit tricky, but
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it is something that is being talked about at least in some quarters here. by the end of the week, wolf, you're absolutely right. still very much nowhere on both sides. >> next week will be critical. we'll see if they do any better next week. they can't do much worse, i suppose. let's dig a little bit deeper with our chief political analyst and our senior political analyst, the editorial director of the national journal. the latest jobs that came out, gloria, 7.7% unemployment going down. 146,000 jobs created. that's good. this has been since december, 2008. a year ago, it was 8.8%. how does this play into the fiscal cliff negotiations? >> well, i think the president can and will, i'm sure, make the case that the economy is now clearly headed in the right direction. that the lowering of the unemployment number is not an
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aberration nor was it a political trick that occurred during the campaign that some had charged. so the president can say, okay, we need to resolve this fiscal cliff issue. or else we're going to start heading in the wrong direction. don't interrupt the recovery that we're having. and if you do, congress, it will be your fault. >> and then as far as the job approval numbers for the president, and this is going to play into this leverage negotiation, as well. how is the president handling his job as president. this is an average of the major polls. 53% approve of the job he's doing. 43% disapproved. that's a three-year high. >> and our monitor poll out this week. 53% approval. and the widest gap we've had on whether people prefer him or republicans. he has a stronger hand in this debate, partially because his approval rate was up. but mostly, because events bend
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in his favor. you know, when john boehner, when the speaker, with all due respected, is talking about what is acceptable, he doesn't have a choice. the only issue, if the president was unwilling to sign something that does not have the rates go up, they're going up at the end of the year. >> can i just say, the president has a political advantage right now, obviously. but he has to figure out a way to turn that into a substantive accomplishment. this kind of advantage that you see could shift the longer this continues and the closer we get to a cliff. so, at a certain point, he's going to have to pivot. >> i think, you know, right now, the less republicans blink, the administration this week, they are absolutely ready to go over the cliff on the tax side. in some ways, that might make a deal easier. no republican would ever have to vote to raise taxes. you can reduce taxes for the vast majority of americans.
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and you can couple that with some spending restraints. it may be easier. a lot of people scratching their heads about it if you go over the cliff on the tax side. >> i still think that that is not the optimum result for the president. you heard what rick is talking about, which is do some compromise on the 37%. you have to show that you're serious about entitlement reform. >> it's a little bit of a civil war going on within the gop. >> a little bit. >> jim demint announcing dshl i interview with him coming up later this hour. he makes it clear, he doesn't like what the concessions on taxes that john boehner has already offered. >> and you see the republican caucus in the house says it's firmly behind john boehner. it is a large figure. it goes back to the grand
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bargain, which john boehner was almost a part of. and then you see the outside conservatives now, conservative organizations saying we can't do it. so what is the republican party going to stand for? is it going to stand for raising taxes on the rich? you see a lot of republicans saying -- >> can he deliver his republican caucus in the house of representatives, assuming he makes a deal with the president. >> that's a big if. if you do -- the one thing i disagree, i think that top rate is going up to 39.6 at the end of the year. and then maybe in 2013, you negotiate it down. i think the president is going to be very firm on that. they really have no leverage in this negotiation on the tax side. and in the end, i think those rates are going up. >> i know you write about it, the new issue of the national journal. lighting the way.
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we'll take a closer look when we get through it. >> so with the promise, maybe they'll go down when we reform the tax code. >> next week, we'll critical, you guys. thanks very much. in the struggle to avoid the fiscal cliff, senior citizens are fighting to protect their medicare, their social security benefits. and the seersz series in the country's civil war compares it to living life in a grave. cnn is on the scene for us. yo, give it up, dude!
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cnn's senior international correspondent reporting from northern syria. >> reporter: down a steep, stone stairway into the darkness, this is where the cordea family has been hiding for four months. >> translator: the strikes were all around us. we just ran out with nothing, 20-year-old faknar recalls. we just ran and ran down here. and the shrapnel was falling all over. >> since then, they've dared occasionally to go back home to collect belongings. there would be bombing like that and we'd come running back here, faknar says. their home is just five doors away. but it's right on one of aleppo's front lines. it's been hit by artillery fire since they fled. >> translator: we go home every two weeks to shower.
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fearful and terrorized, fakma's mother tells us. we have a weak home. it could crumble any moment. their makeshift bunker was a workshop. the carpenters intricately furniture still lines the walls. the last time the family ventured out was three weeks ago. fakmad and her younger sister want to leave. anywhere but here. anywhere they can feel the sun and smell fresh air. but their father refuses. >> translator: poor but proud, he says. he doesn't want to be at the mercy of others. here, he can send his son to scrape money and buy a little food. it's humbling how amidst all they have lost and suffered, they insist on offering us tea. the girl's dream of wounded neighbors. their mother has night mares her children are dead. and says she feels her heart is
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going to burst with each explosion. >> i just tell her it's far away. and not to be cared, fakma says. but sometimes the bombings are so close, the family says they choke on the dust. >> translator: what can we say? we're living in a prison. prisoners in a prison, fakma says. it's more like a grave, sahira adds. >> reporter: to give you an idea of just how dark it really is and terrifying with all of the sounds of the gunfire outside, we're going to switch our camera light off. this tiny flame is all the family has. >> as they listen to the sounds of war above. >> joining us now, what a powerful report. on top of all of this now, there must be deep fear that the assad regime might use chemical warfare against its own people,
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serin gas, which is so deadly. how concerned? how fearful are the rebels, the civilian population, in northern syria where you are. >> reporter: as fearful as one could possibly manage them to be. this is a population that has no way to protect itself from bullets and bombs. one rebel commander we were talking to has no doubt in his mind that he would, in fact, use this type of weapon ri. he said if you look at the history of this uprising, the asad regime moved onto rockets and then onto air strikes. the next step, as this rebel force is really strengthening its strangle hold on this syrian government is going to be to employ chemical weapons to deliver that final and deadly blow. >> in northern syria for us on the scene, aura, be careful.
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thanks so much. here in washington, a massive show of force on capital hill. up next, the message some senior citizens are sending lawmakers looming the fiscal cliff. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of all day pain relief.
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one group of americans not taking looming fiscal cliff deadlines sitting down. seniors. they're turning out in droves right here in washington with a very strong warning for congress. lisa si lisa sylveter has details. >> reporter: the aarp is a powerful group in washington. they've spent about $7.5 billion on lobbying. a large number of senior
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volunteers. right now, their aim is to keep social security and medicare in tact. >> gene has offer traveled from washington to her colorado home. this time, the 70-year-old retiree is here as a volunteer with the aarp. they're blanketing capitol hill with a single message for lawmakers. hands off. >> we're very concerned. we don't want medicare, medicaid and social security to be used as part of a deficit-reducing bill in such a short period of time. >> the clock is winding down toward the fiscal cliff. once considered an untouchable third rail, changes for social security and other so called entitlementeds are now being seriously discussed. >> we really have not begun to talk about real entitlement reforms. the only way to have a true avoidance is to mix an appropriate amount of revenues with true retirement reform.
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until the debate moves to that point, there's really no serious debate taking place. squeezing out savings from social security by changing the way inflation is calculated and possible means testing that could disqualify wealthier, older americans from the medicare program. lawmakers insist any changes will be done gradually and will not impact current retirees. but that's not soothing the fears of senior who is say inflation adjustments will have an immediate impact. >> to tell someone who's living on social security, one out of every flthree relies on just social security for their income, to tell them i'm sorry, we're going to have to cut back your benefits, that doesn't make sense to us. >> reporter: just to be clear, it's a powerful and sophisticated organization with offices in every state and volunteers ready to fly to
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washington in a moment's notice. but democrats and republicans aren't going to reach a compromise unless something gives. >> we are racking up levels of debt that's unprecedented in our history. we've got to do something: and if we don't, its's been very clear that the presidency will downgrade us again. democrats on the hill are pushing back more than a hundred house letters saying take social security off the table. >> lisa, thank you. a tea party movement shocks washington. we'll talk to him. that's next. many of my patients clean their dentures with toothpaste.
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a bomb shell announcement in the united states senate. the republican senator of south carolina caught everyone by surprise, even his oeb staff when he announced he's resigning at the end of the year. demint will stay here in washington in a new role as head of the conservative heritage foundation. and demint says he believes he can make more of a difference outside the senate than inside. >> i'm joined now by senator demint along with heritage foundation founding trustee, the current president -- we see the out going president. and thanks very much for coming in. we're going to talk a little bit about the state of the her tan foundation.
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the senator is here, the news maker. you shocked all of us. why did you do this. >> wolf, it's apparent we need to be more con sefbtive. the heritage foundation is the premier think tank, research organization, the premier idea group for the conservative movement. this will give me the opportunity to help take our case to the american people and to translate our policies into real ideas. >> you think you could be more influential within the conservative movement as the leader of the her tan foundation as opposed to a united states senator? >> there's no question about it! what does that say about the senate, though? i thought being a senator, one of only a hundred, you had a real -- you had enormous power. >> well, we do. and i think i've had a lot to do with changing the senate and bringing in some folks who better reflect america to the republican party. but, for me, particularly since i spent most of my life doing
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research, working with ideas in marketing and trying to sell those to people all over the country, this is like coming home to be able to work with people who are like-minded at heritage and all over the country. >> if romney would have won, do you think you would have also made the same decision? >> i would have thought differently about it. but this, i told ed four years ago, when people asked me to run for president, i said the only president i want to be is president of the heritage foundation. they have solid ideas backed up by solid research. as republicans, we're not doing a good job of convincing american that is we care about every one of them. >> the impression is you only care about the rich? >> that's the impression. i'm a conservative first. and i believe if we do a better job of helping americans understand what we're trying to do, to showcase every place in the country that our ideas are working at the state level.
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that that will help those who want to carry at the federal levels. if ind pen dents want to work with us on conservative ideas, i can do that -- >> you've been at heritage forever, right? i didn't realize how powerful he says he's going to be. you feel that you've been that powerful in galvanizing everyone else. >> we co-sponsored a presidential debate with you. >> it was a great debate. >> look, we are an idea factory. and ideas are the raw materials of what goes on in washington. and if we can pull together a stronger coalition, republican, democrat, conservative, even some liberal sometimes on the broad issues that face us, man, and jim demint knows how to do it. he knows the markting side as well as the issue side. >> it's a big job. it's not just thinking. you've got to raise money. you've got to go out there and speak and you've got a big
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staff. >> he's got to administer 250 people. we've got 600,000 members tlout the country who are going to be really ecstatic. it's an exciting time at heritage. >> should there be a compromise in order to avoid going over the fiscal cliff? john boehner is already ready for $800 billion in early tax revenue. this is raising the tax rate on the wealthy. but eliminating loopholes, are you with the speaker of the house? >> unfortunately, the presidency has already taken us over the cliff. businesses have already paired back their plans and they're hiring for next year anticipating what's going to happen. so we can fix this christmas eve, if we want. but we've already hurt the economy and hurt -- >> are you with boehner? >> i'm not with boehner. this guy doesn't need more money.
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>> we doubled spending. >> well, we have already offered to extend current tax rates. that's what we should have done six months ago until we could come to some agreement, some compromise on tax reform. >> when you say compromise, where are you ready to compromise, as far as taxes are concerned. >> well, how we go about tax reform, there's a lot of room to work together. >> lower the rats. i'm not sure where the democrats are. th they have not offered the plan. >> they keep the bush tax rates. the top two percent let them go from 35% to 39.6%. >> it's incredible to me we're already talking about it. it runs the government for five or six days. >> but at the beginning, every billionaire winds up being real money. >> but the president has known about this so-called cliff for over a year. and it's yet to present a plan
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that reduces our deficit. i'm willing to work with anyone who's willing to put a plan on the table. but our party, or anyone, should not sit down and negotiate. >> and i want you to weigh in because we're running out of time, but as far as a compromise on a marginal tax rate, let's say 36 or 37%. is that acceptable? >> no, no. my marge mall tax rate increases, if there is any increase in revenue, it just gives them more to play with over on capitol hill. when we talk about fairness, when the top 2% are already paying 45% of total income tax, that's a big question of fairness there. >> interesting stuff from the out going and the incoming head of the heritage foundation, senator demint leaving the senate causing some shock waves here in washington. other important news we're following. international suspicions that syria's regime may be preparing
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to use chemical weapons against its own people. we're going to talk about that and more with the special middle east envoy. the former british prime minister, tony blare is here on "the situation room." with unitedhealthcare, i got help that fit my life. information on my phone. connection to doctors who get where i'm from. and tools to estimate what my care may cost. so i never missed a beat. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. yeah we both relieve coughs, sneezing, aches, fevers. and i relieve nasal congestion. overachiever. [ female announcer ] tylenol® cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion. nyquil® cold and flu doesn't.
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joining us from new york, tony blair. u.s., russsirussia, the european and the group collectively known as the quartet. prime minister, thanks, as usual, for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> it's good to see you. let's talk a little bit about what's happening in the middle ooe east right now with the u.s., the obama administration, nato obviously very concerned about the regime of the president potentially using chemical
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weapons, poison gas, against its own people. here's the question. what's the difference killing civilians in syria with bombs from mig jet fighters or attack helicopters as opposed to let's say poison gas? or chemical warfare? >> well, that's a good question. in one sense, in moral terms, there is no difference. almost 40,000 people have died in syria already. but the use of chemical weapons and poison gas, i think the fa val valueties would be very much greater. it does kind of cross a line. these aren't judgments that you can make in any particularly scientific way. but i think what your administration, part of the international community is signaling to the president is if you cross that line, it will be a sharp and strong reaction. >> and those were tough words coming from president obama yesterday from secretary hillary clinton from the nato secretary general today in brussels.
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is that enough to prevent using poison gas or chemical warfare? or just threats, shall we say? is there something else tangibly the international community should be doing? >> well, it's important that i'm sure this is being conveyed in many different ways, too. it's important that he understands that that response is going to be emphatic. so it won't be, in other words, that we issue a strong statement. that ll be some action that will follow. look, i think he will appreciate that. but the real question is how did we bring this appalling disaster, which is unfolding in syria, to an end. trying to get to a situation where you move to a different type of constitution in which people can have a say in e lebl electing the government and where the countries have put in a more stable issue. so this is fantastically difficult.
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again, what we've seen in the middle east, we saw it in iraq and now in syria. once you lift the lid off of these very repressive regimes, out comes this religious, ethnic, tribal tense. >> how worried are you about the situation in egypt? >> i think egypt is key to the region. you've got to be extremely worried when you see instability affecting egypt. this is, again, these are the birth pains of proper democracy in some ways. but this struggle is immensely important because obviously, what is important in these countries, where they've moved to a democratic system, is that there is a clear understanding. it's a way of thinking. and part of that way of thinking is that you've got to preblgt minorities. you've got to -- democracy doesn't function unless it is
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accompanied by an open mind. and so, you can understand there is a lot of anxiety in egypt about the constitutional proposals. they obviously applauded e jipt's efforts in bringing about the cease fire in gaza, there is a cease fire there. i hope it can be resolved in a way that most egyptians want to see. >> i know you're watching, as all of us are, these so-called cliff negotiations here in the united states. and, as concerned as we are here in the united states, your concern, also, is there could be very serious international ramifications if the u.s. does, in fact, go over the cliff. explain your concern? >> the concern people have -- the world economy is in a very fragile state right now. i don't have to say what the problems are in the euro zone.
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but, actually, in the global economy as a whole, there's a lack of confidence and a worry about where it's going. if you're in america disturb by the way, people with a lot of confidence. if you can sort out this issue, even though that doesn't sort ou all of the problems of the american economy, it would be a big boost, i think. it would give people a big sense of confidence. that the decisions were being taken and i think it would be good for you and good for us. i hope you do it. i believe you will. i believe right u no there's very tough obligations. but, you know, the president is being reelected. and i think that gives the situation its own special momentum. and i hope you resolve it and then we're going to have to take some tough decisions over our way, too. >> i hope we resolve it, as well. there was a cute video of hillary clinton here in washington over the weekend.
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and it had a clip from you in there. play that little clip. ♪ you're amazing ♪ just the way you are >> i just have an instinct that the best is yet to come. >> lurt. all right. you said you have an instinct that the best is yet to come. what did you mean by that? >> well, i think, wolf, sometimes when you make an enigmatic comment, you're best to leave the enigma floating there. >> i understand completely what you're saying. prime minister, thanks, as usual, for joining us. appreciate it very much. >> thavngs, wolf. all the best. >> so if you take aspirin every day to prevent heart trouble, a baby aspirin, a regular as prinl, you might want to check the label. up next, our own doctor, sanjay gupta with details on what a new study says about the effects of
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when police are investigating a crime, they can certainly follow a trail of phone calls and e-mails, but texts are much harder to track down. that could change if law enforcement agencies can persuade congress to act. raton has been looking forward to this story. >> wolf, law enforcement wants to be able to retrieve our text messag messages, not just the so-called meta data. they want our carriers to store it for at least three months. these days, your text is where if evidence is. >> reporter: michelle medoff says she started getting the
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harassing texts in early november. an anonymous person threatened to send news pictures of her. >> reporter: the threats came from different cell phone numbers. medoff, a model and college student, was terrified. >> i was very, very afraid. that week, i didn't go to a night class because i didn't feel safe to walk by myself. >> it's those kinds of texts that u.s. law enforcement authorities want more power to investigate. several groups, including chiefs of police, sheriff's associations, are pushing congress to pass a law saying your carrier has to record and store your text messages. it's not clear how long they want them stored. scott burns, of the national district attorney's association, one of the groups pushing the new law, says his group favors a period of three or four months. >> if you're in the middle of an
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investigation and bad guys are communicating back and forth, whether it's a homicide, whether it's evidence of a crime, its's crucial. i mean, 20 years ago, we weren't talking about this. today, everybody has a cell foenl. everybody texts and e-mails and is on social med. that's where the evidence is today. >> reporter: or not. major carriers like at&t, sprint or mobile didn't retain any content of customer's text messages. verizon keeps them for up to five days. >> scott burns says it's faster and more efficient to get from the carriers. hoe points out that, of course, the bad guys often erase their incriminating texts. but many believe the law enforcement benefit of mining texts doesn't out weigh privacy concerns. chris calabrese says with some 60 billion text messages sent
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every day, it's just too much private information. >> even if you feel like you have nothing to hide, there's a lot of embarrassing and personal information there. >> experts point out this does become a security issue if the carriers store your texts for any length of time. we contacted to see what they think of this proposed law to store texts. we reached out to would comment. the wireless association, the main lobbying arm for those carriers, also would not comment. wolf? >> has law enforcement caught that individual who was harassing that model? >> they have not so far. michelle says that the person had also called her from a couple of different cell phones and when she traced -- tried to trace them back, she found out those numbers were no longer in service. so this is another thing those people can get away with. disable their phones or throw them out somehow. she also says because the person did not threaten to kill her, this was not a huge priority for
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the police. >> all right, i guess they got other things they got to do. >> they do. >> thank you very much. new concerns about a coating used on aspirin, designed to protect the stomach. but a study finds it could reduce or eliminate aspirin's effectiveness in reducing heart ataentacks and strokes. dr. sanjay gupta is here. sanjay what is going on here? a lot of folks take the baby aspirin with the coating and now should they be worried? >> the story goes typically they take this and over the last several years what doctors have sort of been concerned about is that that in some patients it doesn't seem to work. what they -- what the doctors thought and a lot of people have thought is that was due to something known as aspirin resistance. what this study -- this new study today, wolf, sort of was looking at is what exactly is aspirin resistance, something that is real at all, or could it be caused by the aspirin itself? you saw some images there. this is the uncoated aspirin.
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and over here is the coated aspirin. and what this study basically says, it says, look, it is that coating that has been the problem. it is that coating that prevents the aspirin from being absorbed in a way that allows it to do its job. they studied 400 healthy people over a period of time. on some days they found the aspirin worked pretty well. on other days it didn't. that's why they have come to this conclusion, in this one study, that maybe aspirin resistance isn't the problem. it is that coating, wolf. >> so i take it a lot of people take the coated aspirin because it helps protect against stomach problems, right? >> yeah. that's why doctors recommend it, you worry that the uncoated stuff can cause gi upset or bleeding. interesting, wolf, even as part of the study, they looked at that issue and i think this is going to surprise a lot of people, they found in this one study, again, that it didn't seem to make a difference. if you had the coating, it didn't seem to give you any benefit in terms of protecting your stomach either. now, bayer was the company that
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funded the study. and bayer makes aspirin. a lot of it being the coated aspirin. they had a statement specifically about this. we asked them about this. they say they dispute some of the findings saying that when it is used as directed, both the enteric and nonenteric coated aspirin provides meaningful benefits, is safe and effective and infrequently associated with clinically significant side effects. bayer saying it takes longer for the coated aspirin to work. and they say in the study, they didn't wait long enough to measure its effectiveness. they waited too short a time. if they waited a longer period of time they would find the coated aspirin actually did a better job. but, again, this is sort of new information and as you point out, a lot of people use this medication, wolf? >> bottom line, very quickly, should we take those baby aspirins or not? >> i think that it can -- the baby aspirin can provide a lot of benefit in terms of preventing heart disease. you got to make sure you're taking it. a lot of people say taking it, but may skip days.
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sometimes it can interact with other drugs, talk to your doctor about that. as far as coated or uncoated this is an important issue. if it is not providing any stomach protection, and taking longer to work, maybe you're better off sticking with the uncoated type of aspirin, but, again, talk to your doctor about that. >> sanjay gupta with always good advice. robbing a bank is bad enough, but what the suspect did next gives new meaning to the phrase self-incrimination. jeanne moos just ahead. me too! and nasal co lenol bo] [ tissue box ] he said nasal congestion. yeah...i heard him. [ female announcer ] tylenol® cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion. nyquil® cold and flu doesn't.
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relieves nasal congestion. ...so as you can see, geico's customer satisfaction is at 97%. mmmm tasty. and cut! very good. people are always asking me how we make these geico adverts. so we're taking you behind the scenes. this coffee cup, for example, is computer animated. it's not real. geico's customer satisfaction is quite real though. this computer-animated coffee tastes dreadful. geico. 15 minutes could save you 15 % or more on car insurance. someone get me a latte will ya, please? bp has paid overthe people of bp twenty-threeitment to the gulf. billion dollars
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in the philippines, a woman clings to a zipline as she's pulled across floodwaters from a recent typhoon. in india, men are pictured in traditional dress at a celebration of tribal cultures. in belarus, a diver tries to capture a sick swan on a frozen lake. and in germany, check it out, around 400 santas gathered to surprise travelers in a train station. hot shots, pictures coming in from around the world. authorities in nebraska didn't have much trouble tracking down an alleged bank robber. and thanks to the suspect, prosecutors shouldn't have a hard time making their case. jeanne moos shows us why. >> reporter: note to accused bank robbers, doesn't help your
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case to post your self-on youtube waving around cash and holding a sign saying, i robbed a bank, while the band green day blares appropriate lyrics. ♪ i don't need your authority >> reporter: and you might want to reconsider titling your video, chick bank robber. 19-year-old hannah sabata was arrested one day after the cornerstone bank in waco, nebraska, was robbed. according to sheriff dale radcliffe who had to keep a grip on sabata as she jerked away -- >> no gun was ever shown inside the bank. she just said she had a gun with her, the note said she had a gun. >> reporter: the suspect seems to like writing notes. like the one that said, then i stole a car. and indeed a stolen car was used in the bank heist. we're not exactly sure why, but all of the signs and the video are backwards. not to worry, she helpfully supplied subtitles. so why you need a mirror to read then i robbed a bank, there's the subtitle in case you don't
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happen to have a mirror handy. and she wrote not only she stole a pontiac, but that it was a shiny one. she dangled the keys. as green day played on. ♪ down with the moral majority >> reporter: she displayed the green, even supplying an exact count, $6,256. money the sheriff says was recovered from her home. along with the sunglasses and backpack police say she wore in the bank surveillance photo. her defense attorney wouldn't comment. sabata wrote, i told my mom today was the best day of my life. she just thinks i met a new boy. and instead she met these boys. >> they didn't read me my miranda rights. >> reporter: what led to her arrest wasn't the youtube video, but tips from people like her ex-husband who recognized her in the bank photo. and the video, sabata brandishes a pipe she said is full of weed and complains that